What I've done the past year...around the patio

The house has a screen porch with a combine brick/wood patio, three raised beds around it and one bed below it in the yard. My plan is to do mostly white's and silvers around the patio itself; no plan has revealed itself for the bed below YET!

1. The bed to the left was filled with pachysandra when we arrived. Simon was set to the task of removing it; not easy! The worst part was that he disturbed a copperhead who crawled between his legs and into another bed where my Dad beheaded him. A copper snake now lives in the place where he died.

2. I plopped into this bed some an old-fashioned Mum 'Miss Jessie' from the daylily lady in King George, the Lambs Ear and a Salvia with the prettiest color blooms whose name I lost. All came from the old house and most will eventually move.

3. I dug the mint, your typical variety and a chocolate one, out of the bed nearest the porch and Simon replanted it in pots. Ironically, the regular variety was in a pot inside a coffee can and yes it had grown out and spread! It looks rather bare without the mint which I'm still picking mint out of the bed. It also has two lavenders, 'Grosso' and a more delicate variety and several miniature roses.

4. The last bed is behind the grill; lovely huh? I planted a small, white climbing rose 'Jeanne d'Arc' behind it; it should grow tall enought to peek over and take up enough space to prevent me from having to get back there too much. Left in the bed are what I believe is a small salvia, a yellow flower yet to be identified, Leucanthemum probably 'Becky.'

5. Here's the only part I'm happy with. When we moved in there was a long bench in the middle of the patio. We took it out, moved it elsewhere and I put clay pots on the brick posts. This summer I've put in Woodruff.

6. The bed below the patio was filled with mahonia. Not only is it a thug, but it hurts! An afternoon digging out this horrible plant convinced me that I won't have any plants in my garden that hurt unless they are incredibly beautiful. Mahonia is not! Since it was removed, the remaining plants have flourished. Particularly the hosta; it's as if they're responding to the sun!


Future Thoughts: Emphasis on whites and silvers in the patio beds. No specific ideas about the bed below.